New research material from a long term field trial at Westminster City Hall has proven that installing ECEX air intake screens on Air Handling Units (AHUs) significantly reduces environmental impact and maintenance, as well as making attractive cost and energy savings.
The independent trials, carried out by AMEY Total Facilities Management Services using ECEX Air Intake Screens, were set up to measure the energy savings benefits of ECEX Air Intake Screens by preventing airborne debris entering, and thus affecting, the efficiency of AHUs. The goal was to ascertain the exact carbon reduction and the return on investment (ROI) of a typical application.
Two AHUs were fitted with ECEX Air Intake Screens within the 20-storey Westminster City Hall building in Victoria St, London, each running for 24 hours, seven days a week. One AHU alone produced the following results (recorded over comparison 31 day period):
- Energy saving - 4.9 per cent reduction in power consumed
- CO2 emissions - savings of 296.33kg, the two trial AHUs clocked up savings of 438Kg
- ECEX Air Intake Screens payback - 13 months on energy alone
- Maintenance reduction - filter need replacing less often, further reducing costs and potentially pushing the ROI of ECEX Air Intake Screen installation to less than four months.
Amey's site M&E Manager noted: "Following the installation of the Air Intake Screens, we will achieve CO2 emission savings from just these two AHU's of over 5,000Kg per annum, equivalent to taking one car off the road for a whole year."
Jason Davis from ECEX, commented: "Maintaining the optimum efficiency of HVAC systems is a huge concern for any facilities manager; pollen, leaves, insects and general airborne debris can have a dramatic, negative effect, pushing up energy usage and a building's carbon footprint.
"By opting to install ECEX Air Intake Screens, managers will be cutting costs all-round and addressing the big issue of unit maintenance; once installed, the screens require just a simple cleaning regime. Used with AHUs, the screens can increase the life of internal filters by up to 60 per cent."
